Lazarus Raised from the Dead

A man named Lazarus was sick in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This was the same Mary who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped His feet with her hair. The sisters sent word to Jesus: 'Lord, the one you love is sick.' They didn't need to explain what they wanted—their message implied a request for Jesus to come and heal. When Jesus heard this, He said, 'This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it.' Despite loving Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, Jesus stayed where He was two more days.

When Jesus finally said they would go to Judea, His disciples objected because the Jewish leaders there had recently tried to stone Him. Jesus spoke cryptically about there being twelve hours of daylight and walking in the light. Then He told them plainly, 'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.' The disciples thought He meant natural sleep, but Jesus was speaking of death. He told them clearly: 'Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.'

On His arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him while Mary stayed at home. Martha said, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.' Her words held both faith and gentle reproach—faith that Jesus could have prevented this, and perhaps faith that even now He could do something.

Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' Martha thought He was speaking of the resurrection at the last day—a future, theological truth. But Jesus made it personal and present: 'I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?' He wasn't just claiming power over death—He was claiming to be the source of life itself. Martha's response was a profound confession: 'Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.'

Martha went back and called Mary, who came to Jesus, fell at His feet, and said the same thing Martha had: 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.' When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 'Where have you laid him?' He asked. They replied, 'Come and see, Lord.' Then Jesus wept—the shortest verse in Scripture, but one of the most profound. The Son of God wept at the tomb of His friend, entering fully into human grief.

Some Jews remarked, 'Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?' Their question revealed both faith in His power and confusion about His delay. Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb—a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 'Take away the stone,' He said. Martha objected: 'But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.' Jewish tradition held that the soul departed after three days; four days meant Lazarus was undeniably, irreversibly dead.

Jesus reminded her, 'Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?' So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and prayed, thanking the Father for hearing Him, and explaining He said this for the benefit of those present so they would believe that the Father had sent Him. After His prayer, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.' Life had returned to the decomposing body at Jesus' command. Many Jews who had seen what Jesus did believed in Him, though others reported to the Pharisees, setting in motion the plot to kill Jesus.